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Jan Reid, the author of "Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards," is a senior writer for Texas Monthly and his writing has appeared in Esquire, GQ, Slate, and the New York Times. His other books include "The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock," "The Bullet Meant for Me," "Rio Grande," "Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm," and two award-winning novels, "Deerinwater" and "Comanche Sundown." Also joining... Topics: Rag Radio, KOOP, Jan Reid, Frieda Werden

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David Lindsey has written 14 novels since his first, A Cold Mind, was published in 1982. Mercy (1990), was a New York Times bestseller, and was made into a motion picture, and Body Of Truth (1992) won Germany's Bochumer Krimi Archiv award for the best suspense novel of the year. In 2007, David Lindsey, who lives in Austin, started researching the astonishing rise of the government's outsourcing of national intelligence. Privatized spying has become a multi-billion dollar industry and private... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, David Lindsey, Novelists, Intelligence Contractors, Espionage

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Ellen LaConte refers to herself as an “independent scholar, organic gardener, gregarious recluse, and freelance writer living in the Yadkin River watershed of the Piedmont bioregion of North Carolina.” A contributor to The Rag Blog, LaConte is the author of a controversial, widely-endorsed “meta-synthesis” book, “Life Rules: Why so much is going wrong everywhere at once and how Life teaches us to fix it.” A summary of her philosophy: “The global economy has gone viral. It is... Topics: Thorne Dreyer, Rag Radio, Ellen LaConte, Sustainability, Global Economy, Ecology

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Hirokazu Yoshikawa is professor of education at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. He is a developmental and community psychologist who conducts research on the development of young children in immigrant families. He is a member of the Board on Children, Youth and Families of the National Academy of Sciences and regularly advises government agencies, foundations, and educational organizations in the United States and abroad. Hiro Yoshikawa's most recent book, published in 2011,... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Psychologists, Authors, Immigration, Education

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Bob Cheevers is the Texas Music Awards 2011 “Singer/Songwriter of the Year.” Cheevers recounts his experiences over a professional lifetime in four music capitals: Memphis, LA, Nashville, and now Austin, where he has found renewed creative energy. An Emmy-winning recording artist, Cheevers was also a winner at the Kerrville and Napa Valley music festivals, had pop hits in the 60’s and 70’s while working in LA, and has had top-20 hits on the Americana charts. Cheevers, who spent 16 years... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Bob Cheevers, Musicians, Singer/Songwriters

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Environmental activist Diane Wilson, a fourth-generation shrimper from Seadrift, Texas -- and a mother of five -- has earned the wrath of industrial polluters everywhere. She has been arrested 50 times and has participated in disruptions of U.S. Senate hearings and corporate shareholder gatherings in Houston, Taipei, and London. Wilson was Mother Jones magazine's "Hell-Raiser of the Month," and was one of Grist's "13 Badass Greens." She was a founder of CodePink, the Texas... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Diane Wilson, Environmentalists, Activists, Authors

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Elliott Naishtat is a progressive Democratic state legislator from Austin. A native New Yorker, Naishtat, who is Jewish, was elected to the Dist. 49 seat in the Texas House of Representatives in 1990 and has been reelected 10 times. Naishtat, who has lived in Texas for 39 years, served as a VISTA volunteer in Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty in Queens, N.Y., and Eagle Pass, TX, before moving to Austin and earning a Masters in Social Work and a law degree from The University of Texas. Elliott,... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Elliott Naishtat, Progressive Democrats, Texas Politics

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David Lindsey has written 14 novels since his first, A Cold Mind, was published in 1982. Mercy (1990), was a New York Times bestseller, and was made into a motion picture, and Body Of Truth (1992) won Germany's Bochumer Krimi Archiv award for the best suspense novel of the year. In 2007, David Lindsey, who lives in Austin, started researching the astonishing rise of the government's outsourcing of national intelligence. Privatized spying has become a multi-billion dollar industry and private... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, David Lindsey, Novelists, Intelligence Contractors, Espionage

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Carlos Calbillo is an award-winning filmmaker and longtime Chicano community activist. He was active with SDS and the Mexican-American Youth Organization (MAYO) in Houston in the '60s and '70s, and edited the Chicano newspaper, El Papel. Calbillo has worked in film and television and has produced numerous short films on subjects ranging from community activism to musical documentaries on Texas and Chicano/Latino music, including Doug Sahm, Freddy Fender, Mance Lipscomb, Little Joe y La Familia,... Topics: Rag Radio, Carlos Calbillo, Filmmakers, Chicanos, Tejanos, Texas History

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David Edwards teaches political and social theory, American politics, public policy, and international relations at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught for 47 years. He also has served as a consultant to the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Industrial Management Center, and the Danforth Foundation. He is the author of Creating a New World Politics, Arms Control in International Politics, The American Political Experience (four editions), and Practicing American Politics,... Topics: Thorne Dreyer, Rag Radio, David Edwards, UT-Austin, International Relations

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Progressive populist Jim Hightower, a former two-time Texas Agriculture Commissioner, is a writer, commentator, public speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. A former editor of the Texas Observer, Hightower publishes a monthly populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown, that has more than 135,000 subscribers, and writes a newspaper column distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate. Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower worked for Texas Sen. Ralph Yarborough; co-founded the Agribusiness... Topics: Rag Radio, Jim Hightower, Populists, Authors, Texas Politicians, Thorne Dreyer

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scott crow is an Austin-based anarchist community organizer, political activist, and writer. His grassroots organizing projects include the post-Katrina Common Ground Collective in New Orleans, which has been called the largest anarchist-influenced organization in modern U.S. history. Scott has worked with groups like Greenpeace, ACORN, and the Rainforest Action Network, and currently works at an anarchist recycling center cooperative in Austin. Scott’s political activities have led the FBI... Topics: Rag Radio, scott crow, Thorne Dreyer, Anarchists, Authors, Community Organizers

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-Conversation with legendary Texas singer-songwriter Vince Bell, with live performance. Vince has performed widely for decades, and his songs have been recorded and performed by Little Feat, Lyle Lovett, and Nanci Griffith. Vince's book, "One Man's Music" -- which he also performs as a one man musical play -- chronicles his remarkable comeback after an automobile accident in 1982 that nearly killed him and left him in a coma for a month. He had to learn again how to talk, to walk, to... Topics: -Vince Bell, Thorne Dreyer, Rag Radio, Musicians, Singer-Songwriters,

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Robert Jensen is a University of Texas journalism professor, widely-published author, Austin-based political activist, and leading radical thinker. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a professional journalist for a decade. At UT, Jensen teaches courses in media law, ethics, and politics. He is also a board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center. His most recent book is All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice. We discuss his recent essay, “The... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Robert Jensen, Authors, Activists, Political Philosophy

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Robert W. McChesney is a Research Professor in communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2002 McChesney co-founded the Illinois Initiative on Global Information and Communications Policy. Also in 2002 he co-founded Free Press and the Free Press Action Fund. Free Press is a national, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is the largest media reform organization in the United States. Bob McChesney also hosts a weekly radio talk show and, with John Nichols, wrote... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Bob McChesney, Authors, Journalism, Media Criticism

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David Rovics is an American indie singer/songwriter and activist for peace and social justice. He lives in Portland, Oregon, and tours regularly on four continents, playing for audiences large and small at cafes, pubs, universities, churches, union halls, and protest rallies. He has shared the stage with a veritable who's who of the Left in two dozen countries, and has had his music featured on Democracy Now!, BBC, Al-Jazeera, and other networks. His essays are published regularly on... Topics: Rag Radio, David Rovics, Singer/Songwriters, Peace Activists, Thorne Dreyer

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Dave Zirin has been called “the best sportswriter in the United States,” by Robert Lipsyte. Named one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Zirin writes about the politics of sports for The Nation where he is the first sportswriter in 150 years of the publication's existence. His latest book is the acclaimed "Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down," which Christine Brennan of USA Today called "the perfect book for our... Topics: Rag Radio, Dave Zirin, Thorne Dreyer, Sportswriters, Authors

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Mike Lapham is the director of United for a Fair Economy’s Responsible Wealth project and co-author of "The Self-Made Myth: And the Truth about How Government Helps Individuals and Businesses Succeed" (Barrett Koehler, 2012). Since 1997, he's been organizing business leaders and wealthy individuals in the top 5% of income and/or wealth to speak out in favor of progressive taxes (including a strong estate tax), living wages, and corporate accountability. Lapham was a fifth-generation... Topics: Rag Radio, Mike Lapham, Lynn Stout, Thorne Dreyer, Authors

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Bill Neiman is a leader in the movement to conserve natural resources and to restore and maintain the health of the environment in Texas. He is an environmental landscaper and his Native American Seed is the principal supplier of native wildflower and grass seeds in Texas, much of it used in the highway-beautification programs of the Texas Department of Transportation. The company also provides consulting services for prairie-restoration projects. An advocate of the use of native species of... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Bill Neiman, Restoration Ecology, Environmentalists

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Bernardine Dohrn, activist, academic, and child advocate, is Clinical Associate Professor of the Northwestern University School of Law, and founding director of the Children and Family Justice Center. Dohrn was a national leader of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and the Weather Underground, and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List for over a decade. Dohrn writes and lectures on war and peace, racism and justice, reconciliation and restorative justice, children in conflict with the... Topics: Rag Radio, Bernardine Dohrn, Thorne Dreyer, Weather Underground, Sixties, SDS

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David Bacon is an author, journalist, broadcaster, and documentary photographer based in northern California. He is an associate editor at Pacific News Service, and has written for Truthout, The Nation, The American Prospect, The Progressive, and the San Francisco Chronicle. His photography has been exhibited widely. His books include "Illegal People: How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants." For 20 years, Bacon was a laborer and union organizer for unions in... Topics: David Bacon, Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Labor Unions, Journalists, Photographers,

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Beth E. Richie is Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, Professor of African American Studies and Criminology, Law, and Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor Richie has been an activist and an advocate in the movement to end violence against women for the past 25 years. Her newest book is "Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation." In the book, through the compelling stories of Black women who have been... Topics: Rag Radio, Beth E Richie, Thorne Dreyer, Feminists, African-Americans

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Grammy nominated guitarist, singer, and songwriter Bill Kirchen was named a “Titan of the Telecaster” by Guitar Player Magazine. He was the guitarist with the original Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen from 1967 to the mid 1970s and his trademark licks drove the seminal Commander Cody classic “Hot Rod Lincoln” into the Top Ten. His career has spanned over 40 years and includes guitar work with Nick Lowe, Emmylou Harris, Doug Sahm, Elvis Costello, and many more. His work... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Bill Kirchen, Commander Cody, Musicians, Sixties

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Mark Blumenthal is the founder and executive director of the American Botanical Council (ABC), an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to disseminating accurate, reliable, and responsible information on herbs and medicinal plants. We discuss issues involving research, regulation, marketing, and responsible use of medicinal plants and other alternatives to traditional Western medicine. Blumenthal is the editor and publisher of HerbalGram, an international, peer-reviewed quarterly... Topics: Rag Radio, Mark Blumenthal, Thorne Dreyer, Herbal Medicine, Alternative Medicine

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David Richards is a Texas civil rights and labor lawyer who has argued extensively before the U.S. and Texas Supreme Courts. According to Texas Monthly magazine, Richards, who is the ex-husband of the late Texas Gov. Ann Richards, "has earned his place in Texas history" as "a rebel-rousing civil-rights lawyer who fought to make Texas just." Among his more notable cases were ones that established single member legislative districts in Texas and that declared the Texas... Topics: Rag Radio, David Richards, Civil Rights, Texas History, The Rag

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Austin-based Americana roots/blues singer-songwriter Guy Forsyth discusses issues like the spiritual nature of music and the social role of the musician, and the difficult economics for musicians in the internet age -- and in the massive Austin music scene today. And he performs four songs live on the show, accompanied by the other members of his trio, Jeff Botta and Nina Botta. Forsyth has been a part of the Austin music scene for 20 years and has won numerous Austin Music Awards, including... Topics: Rag Radio, Guy Forsyth, Thorne Dreyer, Austin Music, Singer-Songwriters

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Our guests are Nathalie Sorrell, Carol Waid, and Rutanya Pearson of Truth Be Told ("Helping Women Behind and Beyond Bars" in Texas), and Sari Waxler of the Seedling Foundation ("Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents"). This podcast was recorded during KOOP's membership drive and includes fundraising pitches. Host and Producer of Rag Radio: Thorne Dreyer; Engineer and Co-Producer: Tracey Schulz. Rag Radio (koop.org/ragradio) is produced in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, an... Topics: Rag Radio, The Seedling Foundation, Truth Be Told, Texas Prisons

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Progressive economist, activist, and author Robert Pollin joins us to discuss issues raised in his provocative new book, "Back to Full Employment," published by MIT Press. The Rag Blog's Roger Baker also participates in the discussion. Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect writes that Pollin's "important new book... deserves a broad hearing. Today’s economy is so anemic that nothing less than a new commitment to full employment will get us out of the ditch dug by a generation... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Robert Pollin, Economists, Authors, Full Employment

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Jesse Sublett is an Austin, Texas-based author & musician -- and this show features live musical and spoken word performance. Sublett's influence on the Austin music scene dates to the late 1970s, when he founded the seminal punk band, The Skunks, and continues today. His published books include crime novels set in the Austin scene -- Rock Critic Murders, Tough Baby, and Boiled In Concrete. His music-murder-and-cancer memoir, Never the Same Again (2004), has been hailed by artists like... Topics: Rag Radio, Jesse Sublett, Thorne Dreyer, Musicians, Authors, ,

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Eliza Gilkyson, a Grammy-nominated recording artist and a member of the Texas Music Hall of Fame, is one of the most respected musicians in folk and Americana music circles. The daughter of legendary songwriter Terry Gilkyson, Eliza grew up in Los Angeles and now lives in Austin. Gilkyson has appeared on NPR and Austin City Limits and has toured with Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her songs have been recorded and performed by such greats as Rosanne Cash, Tom Rush,... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Eliza Gilkyson, Musicians, Political Activists, Austin

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Anne Lewis is an independent filmmaker, a senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, and a member of the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU-CWA Local 6186) and NABET-CWA. She has been making documentary films since 1970. Most of her filmmaking depicts working class people -- often women -- fighting for social change. Lewis is associated with Appalshop, an arts and education center located in the heart of Appalachia. On the show, Anne also addresses recent developments at UT-Austin,... Topics: Rag Radio, Anne Lewis, Documentary Filmmakers, Thorne Dreyer

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An author, journalist, and stand-up comedian, Paul Krassner was the founder and editor of the legendary journal of social and political satire, The Realist. He was a founder of the Youth International Party (the Yippies), and was a member of Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. He was a radio personality in San Francisco, known as “Rumpleforeskin.” His writing has appeared in major publications, including Playboy, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, National Lampoon, Mad Magazine, and The Village... Topics: Rag Radio, Paul Krassner, Thorne Dreyer, The Realist, Underground Press, The Rag, The Sixties,...

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Our guests on Rag Radio are Ole Jørgen Hammeken, an indigenous Greenlandic Inuit polar explorer, social worker, and actor, and Marc Buriot, the executive producer of Inuk, a feature film made in Greenland, in which Hammeken stars. The story of Inuk is loosely based on the work Hammeken and his wife, Ann Andreasen, have done at their internationally-acclaimed home for disadvantaged children in Greenland. Hanneken uses dogsledding as therapy in working with troubled Greenlandic youth. We discuss... Topics: Thorne Dreyer, Rag Radio, Ole Jorgen Hammeken, Marc Buriot, Filmmakers, Actors, Inuk, Explorer,...

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Joe Nick Patoski is the author of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life and has authored and co-authored biographies of Selena and Stevie Ray Vaughan and collaborated on books about the Texas Mountains, the Texas Coast, and Big Bend National Park. He was an editor at Texas Monthly and a music writer for the Austin American-Statesman, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and Rolling Stone. His latest book is Generations on the Land, and he is currently working on a cultural history of the... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Joe Nick Patoski, Hector Saldaña, Texas Music, SXSW, Willie Nelson, The...

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-El Salvador and the Fair Trade Movement. Guests: *Bob Cash -- State Director of the Texas Fair Trade Coalition that opposes the current NAFTA-model free trade system. A former factory worker, he has been a staffer for unions, political campaigns, and office holders. *Leah Wilson -- activist and organizer from Austin now living in El Salvador. She works with the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), a grassroots organizing supporting self-determination, and social and... Topics: -Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Bob Cash, Leah Wilson, Fair Trade Movement, El Salvador, NAFTA, CISPES

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-A conversation with Alyssa Burgin, activist and organizer for environmental, political, and social justice issues. A fifth-generation Texan, she is the daughter of a labor union organizer and a San Antonio newspaperwoman and artist. She has been a grassroots lobbyist for climate change legislation and started the Texas Drought Project to educate Texans about coming water crises. She is media and outreach director of Texans for Peace. She has worked in politics, in press advance positions in... Topic: -Alyssa Burgin, Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Environmental Activists, Texans for Peace, Social Justice,

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Linda Stout is the founder and director of Spirit in Action, a nonprofit organization involved in broad-based movement building, working with diverse communities, grassroots groups, and social justice organizations. She previously led the Piedmont Peace Project in North Carolina, which won the National Grassroots Peace Award. She is the author of "Bridging the Class Divide." Her latest book is "Collective Visioning: How Groups Can Work Together for a Just and Sustainable... Topics: Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Linda Stout, Authors, Community Organizers, Social Activists

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Philip Russell is an author and historian who lives in Austin. His sixth book is "The History of Mexico: From Pre-Conquest to Present." It traces the last 500 years of Mexican history, from the indigenous empires that were devastated by the Spanish conquest to the election of 2006. Russell became fascinated with Mexico when visiting that country to explore caves and then spent many months hiking with a backpack to Indian villages without roads. He has served as interpreter for... Topics: Rag Radio, Philip Russell, Thorne Dreyer, Mexico, Authors, The Rag, Historians

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Sonny Carl Davis is a film actor, a musician, and a screenwriter. He played a redneck entrepreneur in Texas filmmaker Eagle Pennell’s The Whole Shootin’ Match and played memorable roles in Last Night at the Alamo and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. He also had featured parts in Thelma and Louise, Melvin and Howard, and a supporting role in Red Headed Stranger with Willie Nelson. Sonny was also a founding member in 1968 of Austin’s legendary Uranium Savages, a theatrical rock group that... Topics: Rag Radio, Sonny Carl Davis, Thorne Dreyer, Independent Film, Actors, Musicians, Uranium Savages,...

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“In 1970 young Mexican American firebrands in South Texas rose up to demand change, speaking out against discrimination and creating their own political party, which they called La Raza Unida. In the span of about eight years, La Raza Unida energized a youthful following, spread to other states and elected candidates in Texas' predominantly rural Mexican American communities where Anglos historically dominated... Now graying and with a few in their 70s and beyond, some party activists... Topics: Rag Radio, Maria Elena Martinez, Luz Bazan Gutierrez, La Raza Unida, Thorne Dreyer